Te Ata

the long version

"In 1987, Te Ata (1895-1995) became the first person ever declared an "Oklahoma Treasure." Throughout a sixty-year career, her performances of American Indian folklore enchanted a wide variety of audiences, from European royalty to Americans of all ages, and Indians across the American continents from Canada to Peru.". "Richard Green sets the story of Te Ata against the historical, political, economic, and social upheavals of the Dawes Act, the federal government's allotment program designed to abolish tribal governments and assimilate the Chickasaw and other Indian tribes into the American mainstream. Although Te Ata grew up in Tishomingo and at Bloomfield, a tribal boarding school, rather than on a reservation, she was raised on her father's Chickasaw stories. In time, Te Ata recognized the wit and wisdom of those stories and found she had a special talent for collecting and adapting them and other American Indian folktales into dramatic performances."--BOOK JACKET.